Monday, July 19, 2004

SEX TRAP: A top Democratic donor is accused of entrapping his brother-in-law with a hooker — and sending his sister the tape

President Bush is competitive with John Kerry in New Jersey. What should be a safe state for Democrats is anything but. The following litany of (disgusting) Democrat scandals indicates how Bush can steal 15 electoral votes. New Jersey Democrats know this. If the media hounded Connecticut Republican Governor John Rowland out of office, is it going to do the same to New Jersey Democrat McGreevey for his dirty deeds? I wonder if the media is going to hound Democratic Senators from New York and New Jersey (even Saint Hillary) to return ill-gotten and illegally obtained campaign contributions from Charles Kushner.

New Jersey Governor James McGreevey has had better weeks than this. First, he was disclosed as "State Official #1" in the indictment that revealed a corrupt scheme to produce $40,000 in donations for Democratic Party coffers in exchange for a an extortion deal to buy a farm. McGreevey was recorded saying a pre-arranged code word, "Machiavelli," to the farm owner who was being extorted for campaign donations. McGreevey insisted that 'Machiavelli' came up in conversation with the farmer as a literary reference. Now, his top fund-raiser Charles Kushner has been implicated in an even more sordid affair.

In a scenario right out of a pulp crime novel, real-estate developer Charles Kushner — who was aware he was being pursued by the feds for tax fraud and illegal campaign contributions — personally offered the hooker up to $10,000 to do the dirty deed on tape with the witness, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said.

The witness is not only a former Kushner employee but he is Kushner's brother-in-law, William Schulder. The man that Kushner diabolically tried to intimidate is married to Kushner's sister.

To set the salacious scenario into motion, he hired two co-conspirators and paid them $25,000 to find the appropriate prostitute. But the plot stalled for several months due to the co-conspirators' "inability to recruit a woman who was willing to be paid to seduce and have sex with" the witness.

So in November, "Kushner personally recruited a woman — known by [him] to be a call girl — to seduce and have sex with [the witness] on videotape," the indictment stated. He promised her up to $10,000.

On Dec. 4, 2003, the woman tailed the witness to a diner near Bridgewater, N.J., and then — in what the witness thought was simply a chance meeting — played the damsel in distress by asking him for a ride to her motel because her car had broken down.

Once there, she invited him up to her room for a drink. He declined — but the pair exchanged phone numbers. She called him the next day, and the pair had sex in the motel room — the X-rated action caught on a hidden camera installed earlier by one of the unnamed co-conspirators.

Later that day, the co-conspirators delivered the tape to Kushner in his offices. "Kushner viewed the videotape and expressed satisfaction with it," the indictment stated.

And, there's a new scandal involving Charles Kushner - this time it involves illegal donations and involves Democrats including Jon Corzine, Robert Torricelli, Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton...
Newark Star-Ledger, July 17: Only Corzine is giving up funds

Two weeks ago, Kushner paid the fourth-largest fine ever levied by the Federal Election Commission, $508,900, to settle allegations that he made $500,000 in political donations from 1997 to 2000 in the names of various business partners without their knowledge. State and national politicians are now grappling with how to deal with contributions, both legal and illegal, from someone who has contributed or directed at least $5.7 million to political candidates and parties since 1989.

[...]

Corzine (D-N.J.), who received $50,000 in improper Kushner donations and $88,000 in all from the developer, is the first politician to give up the entire contribution. "We're going to take the most conservative approach and return all the money," said Corzine spokesman David Wald yesterday. He said he did not yet know whether the funds would be refunded or donated to charity.

[...]

Former U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli, who received $242,150 from Kushner over the years and still had more than $2.3 million in his political account through March, said he will not return the cash.

"I've learned in life not to judge people, particularly not to judge people when only one side of a story has been told," Torricelli said. "I don't want to add to Charlie Kushner's problems."

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has accepted $92,000 from the developer over the years, this week gave $4,000 in Kushner donations to charity.

U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), who has received $157,000 from Kushner and his companies, will give up the $2,000 check she received this election cycle if he is convicted, spokeswoman Jennifer Hanley said.

Spokesmen for other leading recipients of Kushner's contributions, including the Democratic National Committee ($1.93 million); and U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) ($231,000) did not return calls for comment.